Help please - brake question

[dwest999]

Hello.  I’m in the process of redoing the brakes on my 54 Dodge Meadow.  I bought the rebuild kit from mopar-direct.  When I went to put on the new shoes I realized the new ones are longer than the ones that came off the car (which are shorter).  Not sure what’s going on?  Help please... I can’t figure it out.

 

 

[dwest999]

Forgot to mention.  The shoe I have measure about 9” top to bottom

[Dodgeb4ya]

The shoes are longer or the lining on them is longer?

[dwest999]

The actual shoes are longer.

[Dodgeb4ya]

Measure your brake drum...probably 10".

They might have supplied 11" shoes.

[desoto1939]

According to my EIS brake catalog you should have 11 inch brake shoes:

 

The fronts are number 192 bonded and the rears are number 1161 bonded lining.

 

May be someone switch the rear axle assembly.

 

So measure your brake shoes.

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@apl.com

 

[dwest999]

Rich,

 

Thanks for the response.  I measured the drum and it looks to be 10" in the front and back even though the shop manual says my car should of had 11" drums.  I compared the old and new shoes and the old ones are an inch shorter.  It's kind of weird that I'd have 10" drums all the way around.  Working on these Dodges isn't for the faint at heart.

 

Dave

 

[Sniper]

Working on someone else's repair jobs it not for the faint of heart.  Good luck.

[keithb7]

Would one assume that possibly the brakes were swapped out with used parts from a car with 10" brakes maybe? Perhaps the rear axle entirely swapped out? There's more parts to be changed out than just the drums and shoes, to make 10" brakes work on this car. No?

[westaus29]

My 55-56 Mopar parts list has a table of exchange brake shoe/lining sets which lists both 10" and 11" brakes for 1949-1954 Dodge, 11" only for 55-56, so your brakes could well be original 10" and you should get them exchanged. Nothing is certain on a car this old. My 55 V8 wagon is supposed to have 11" rear brakes and 3.54 diff but someone has changed out the complete assembly for an earlier with 10" brakes and 3.9 diff ratio, most unfortunately.

 

Initial adjustment of these brakes is very important. Ideally the linings should be matched to the drums. You then need to set them up with an adjusting tool. There is good info on this site on overhauling brakes, see the Technical section. There has also been a post by Sam Buchanan

on how to make an adjusting tool, and I recall there is a member who sells one.

Edited May 26, 2020 by westaus29

[derbydad276]

I have literally new fronts I took off my 53 if you need to match up or see how its supposed to go together 

[dwest999]

Thank you guys for all of the response.  Mike over at mopar-direct was helpful and has already sent me new 10" shoes/pads.  Also, thanks for the tech advice... I bought the adjustment tool from Keithb7 (thanks Keith).  Lastly, without this forum there's not way I could have rebuilt my brakes.  As I said previous, these old Mopar are fickled and not for the faint at heart.  Have a great weekend all.  Dave

[derbydad276]

have fun bleeding both wheel cylinders on each front 

[keithb7]

22 minutes ago, derbydad276 said:

have fun bleeding both wheel cylinders on each front 

I don't recall that process being a problem in my '53. Was pretty straight forward. I prefer to have a helper to pump while I work the bleeder valve.

 

 

 

 

[desoto1939]

I noticed on the brake drum that you are showing that the ends on the brake lines were not chamfered on an angle that is standard to help with the braking and less brake CHATTER.

 

Rich hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

[Jerry Roberts]

8 hours ago, desoto1939 said:

I noticed on the brake drum that you are showing that the ends on the brake lines were not chamfered on an angle that is standard to help with the braking and less brake CHATTER.

 

Rich hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

Rich ,  Did you mean to say brake shoes instead of brake lines ?

[squirebill]

Pretty sure Desoto 1939 meant brake "linings" not brake lines.  Also,  my shop manual for Plymouth 1946-1954 does not show the brake shoe hold down springs as shown in the picture of Post 14 at the 2 and 8 o'clock positions.  Is this something on newer Plymouths.  May be a clue of where these 10 inch brakes came from.

[milo9rat]

My 1953 Plymouth also does NOT have the shoe hold down springs.. I would think they would interfere with the working of the shoe....

Edited May 30, 2020 by milo9rat

[Dodgeb4ya]

Generally all the 12" drums/shoes use the hold down springs.

All my Chryslers use that setup.

Same as what Keith posted.

Common on the bigger brakes.

[desoto1939]

15 hours ago, Jerry Roberts said:

Rich ,  Did you mean to say brake shoes instead of brake lines ?

Yes brake shoes linings  thanks for the good catach in the wording.

 

Also I looked in my EIS brake catalog and the last hold down kit was used  on the 1942 cars in the mopar lineup.

 

Rich Hartung

[Dodgeb4ya]

That's odd last year for the hold down kit was 1942...according to EIS.

[Dodgeb4ya]

The MoPar parts books thru 1954 do show the hold down spring parts being used on 12" brakes up to 1954.